Blessings
by MintiNeko
Summary: On the day of Sakura and Sasuke's wedding, many of the attendants come from the afterlife to bear witness. Not all of them, however, are from the groom's side.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

On the day of Sakura's and Sasuke's wedding, there are over a hundred official guests, and another hundred, unseen guests as well.

She can feel them; she's shinobi, and has senses so finely tuned that she can feel them. However, they feel benign, and she can't be bothered to worry too much on her wedding day.

Sasuke feels them too, the foreign chakra signatures hidden among their friends.

Unlike Sakura, he cannot simply ignore them as he recites his vows, for they aren't strangers to him. He still remembers most of them, and it hurts deeply, for the first thing he remembers are their bloodied bodies, what he found on the day of the massacre. He wants to whirl around, demand them to show themselves, show that they aren't a figment of his imagination, for their presence just seems too real.

A brush against his fingers redirects his attention to the woman by his side. He glances at her, she gives him a tiny smile that reassures him, gives him a reason to wait to find the strange sources of too-familiar chakra.

He smiles back at her, even smaller, but still there. It says, _don't worry, I won't run off_, and he squeezes her hand, a second assurance. They've both waited long enough for this day; neither wants it to be cut short.

0

They aren't the only ones who notice.

Shinobi must always be aware of everything, as any innocent object could potentially be a weapon created by their enemy to be used against them.

As a result, most shinobi have a sharp sixth sense that enhances their other senses, helps increase their chances of survival. Sometimes, like today, this sense sharpens their awareness of things paranormal.

Most shinobi, like as Shino and Tenten, can only shift uncomfortably; they can feel the presences, but they aren't distinct, they have little or no meaning to them. Naruto feels the same, but he can make out just vaguely two signatures that are warm and friendly and feel as though they ought to be familiar to him, but aren't. He simply shrugs to himself and continues to watch his best friends undergo holy matrimony, the signatures at the back of his mind.

Other shinobi cannot brush off the presences so easily. Others, such as Kakashi, all of Team 10, Kurenai and her young son, and Neji stiffen when they feel them, among the tangled signatures one or two they painfully recognize, signatures of those who have passed on but are still greatly mourned.

Like Sasuke, they want to jump from their seats and find those who still have places in their hearts, even after their remains have turned to dust. But they restrain themselves, barely.

Today, after all, is still the wedding of their friends and comrades.

0

Despite the (mostly) unknown chakra signatures, the reception is soon in full swing. Like the ceremony, it takes place outside on the extensive Uchiha land. Almost everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves, though nearly all of them also glance inconspicuously around them, searching for the elusive ghosts (for people suddenly recall that they are, after all, on the land of an ancient clan tragically murdered, and ghosts from such circumstances are not uncommon) they know are around them.

For the most part, their attention is diverged by Naruto's ridiculous antics, Ino's drunken advances towards a terrified Shikamaru, Tsunade's fury when she learns exactly how high the pile of paperwork she will have to do the next day has gotten, and the satisfaction of seeing Sakura and Sasuke close to one another, looking like they had never been happier, on a day that many had thought would never come.

For their part, the ghosts simply observe the party, smiling serenely and hovering close to their loved ones, so they could at least pretend to touch them. Most prominent among them, though they remain unseen and try to stay unfelt, is a couple with jet black hair and aristocratic features and a young boy of ten or so who wonders why his little brother is now bigger than him.

0

When twilight has come, however, a new feeling washes over the wedding party, identical to the one earlier in the day.

There is a prickling feeling on their skins, a feeling of anticipation in the air. The wind has picked up, the antics abandoned as all attention is turned towards a clearing in front of them.

Protectively, Sasuke moves in front of Sakura, as other men do to their women. It is one thing to let the women be in battle against a physical opponent, another to let them face something unknown unguarded.

The wind blows harder and faster, leaves swirling rapidly through the air, a whistling sound growing louder and more piercing.

And then the clearing is no longer empty, but full of people.

They are splendidly dressed, and seem to glow in the twilight. To nearly everyone in the crowd, at least one face is heart-wrenching familiar. Again, the need to run forward, again restrained, except this time by the slight shaking of their loved ones' heads, a reminder to stay where they are.

Only Sasuke moves forward, Sakura following. He heads directly toward the couple standing in front of the mass of faces alike in the looks and expressions that represents the Uchiha clan. Sakura notes how his face has paled and his hands are shaking; it's no simple reunion for him. Nor for her either, though she doesn't know any of them except from pictures she found in the compound, she is technically now a part of the clan, and it's slightly nerve-racking to be meeting Sasuke's parents, even if they no longer have physical bodies.

Finally, they are only a foot apart, the past and future Heads of the clan and their matriarchs. Sakura can only glance at Fugaku before looking away; like father, like son. Mikoto, however, has a gentle smile and an aura of calm around her that puts Sakura at ease, and tentatively, she smiles back.

The two men can only look at each other, silently sizing the other up. To Sasuke, his father hasn't changed from his memory. To Fugaku, his son has become what he had hoped he would be, even if the path he took was condemnable.

A slight smile graces Fugaku's face. He and his wife bow to Sasuke and his bride, as do the rest of the Uchiha, acknowledging the couple as the new Heads of their most noble clan. Even the young Itachi (long before planning the massacre of his family and nowhere near the monster Sasuke had slain) bows, though with the reluctance of an older sibling giving into the younger's demands. Looking at him, Sasuke cannot connect the boy with the man he hated.

With the gesture, the spell is broken and ghosts and humans collide, eager to reconnect, even for a few moments.

Asuma is rejoined with his tearful team and lover, and finally meets his son.

Neji has to restrain himself from trying to embrace his father and Hiashi, though outwardly stoic cannot be more amazed and pleased to see his twin again.

Kakashi's team is reunited, Rin and Obito descending upon him and cheerfully relating to him all they have seen, how amazed they are by him, coupled with admonishments and jokes. Kakashi can barely speak, but he doesn't have to.

Naruto is ambushed by a young couple who declare him their son, the woman trying to hug to both hug him to death and smack him for the less-decent things she has seen him do, while the man (who is the 4th Hokage and should be able to exercise at least some control over his wife) stands by sheepishly. Naruto is both pleased and confused to meet them.

Tsunade, in a rare moment of weakness, bursts into tears when Dan and her brother greet her, while Shizune is too stunned to speak.

The Uchiha don't speak, or rather, they won't speak. They can only stand and smile at one another, just happy to be in the same world for at least a little while.

With only a little time left before the sun disappears from the sky, the dead reluctantly withdraw from the living, and once again there are two sides. Many on the human side are crying, and while the dead cannot weep, their expressions more than compensate for the lack of tears.

As the sun sets and the dead begin to fade away, Sakura asks a question that is on everyone's mind.

"Why are you here?"

Mikoto smiles, though it is more a renewal as she never really stopped smiling.

"Permission to see my son, the last of the clan get married."

"Ah," says Sakura. "And the others?"

Another smile.

"We were not specific at the gates of heaven about how many were in the clan."

"So they snuck out?" asks Sakura. A statement, not a question.

Mikoto nods, and swiftly kisses both her and Sasuke on the cheek. Even as the woman fades to nothing, Sakura can feel the light touch on her face.

She brings up one hand to absently touch her cheek, looking up into the dark night sky. Her other entwines with Sasuke's, bringing him down to earth.

A look into his eyes reveals that he's not troubled, though deeply affected by seeing his family again.

"We should probably go inside." she suggests softly to him. He simply nods, and after he's sure that the image of his family, smiling and happy, is fixed in his mind, he turns around and follows his wife back to the main house, as do the rest of their guests, who need to take their leave of the bride and groom .

All of them are too stunned to be able to think clearly about what happened, though they will speak of it the following morning and for a long time after that, maybe even knowing the day, not just as a wedding anniversary, but the day the dead came back to life, if only for a little while and in the most benign way.

But for now, it cannot be thought about. So they will push the encounters to the back of their minds and go to bed and sleep, their emotions mixing about within them to create the strangest dreams.

For Sakura and Sasuke, it will be hard to do so, for their very home still sometimes feels as though its former inhabitants still dwell there and nearly every room is a reminder of their history. But it is their first night as husband and wife, so they will block away these reminders and only focus on each other, and remember their beginning and imagine their future.

After all, the past is set in stone, and while it comes back to remind us once in a while, the future is limitless.

* * *

A/N: Very, very strange idea I got. Hopefully it will be understood.

Reviews are always appreciated.


End file.
